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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, July 18, 2002

Crash victim was legally drunk

Advertiser Staff

An 18-year-old honor student and star athlete from Saint Louis School who was killed when his car collided with a bus on Monday had a blood-alcohol content above the legal limit, the city medical examiner said yesterday.

John Siofele was an honor student at Saint Louis School.

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An autopsy showed that John Siofele of 'Ewa Beach died of multiple internal injuries and had a blood-alcohol content of .142, said City Medical Examiner Kanthi Von Guenthner.

Hawai'i's legal blood-alcohol limit is .08 and the legal age to drink alcohol is 21.

Police said Siofele was driving a 1991 Volkswagen Jetta toward Honolulu on Farrington Highway in Nanakuli when the car crossed the center line and hit a Makaha-bound city bus about 4:06 a.m. on Monday.

The collision demolished the front end of the Jetta. Siofele, who was the only person in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no passengers on the bus and the 61-year-old driver was not hurt, bus officials said.

Police said speed may have been a factor.

Siofele had been awarded a football scholarship to the University of Hawai'i. He was a recipient of the Lumana'i Award, a scholarship for youth of Samoan ancestry, and planned to major in computer science at UH.

Siofele was a leader in the campus ministry at Saint Louis. The 6-foot, 260-pound defensive lineman also was a co-captain for Saint Louis' Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship team. He was a second-team all-ILH selection.

In February, he signed a letter of intent to play for UH. He had recently been training at UH in preparation for next month's workouts.